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In round 3; both sides commit guard (France loses 1 G due to commit).
Austria breaks

(Tutorial Note: You should always check the tables that you are on. This combat
was Echelon vs Cordon. This would normally be 4-1 vs 4-3. Because it was
a cross-river attack this becomes 3-1 vs 4-3. Because the area is "Forrest"
both sides are reduced 1 casulty table to 2-1 vs 3-3. French guard can commit
for +2 Morale tables bringing it to a 2-3 vs 3-3. Due to Nappy's +1; the lowest
roll is a 2. The mrls for a 2 on the 2-3 table is 0.8 which is greater than the
morale remaining to the Austrian forces at the end of round 2 [0.73] & thus
GUARENTEEING an Austrian break.)

Casulties 12 French I; 7 Austrian I, 1 Austrian C
Because of the high French mrls (>4) & 3 rounds of combat there is no persuit.

Ok; at the end of the March 1806 turn; the PS standings are :

And the VP standings are :

Ok; here are the results for France's April 1806 turn :

Davout & 4 French corp attack Mack & 1 Austrian corp in Milan/Lombardy.

Chits were Esc. Assault vs CounterAttack.
Casulties were 2 French M vs 13 Austrian I, 1 Austrian C.
Austria was eliminated & Mack was captured.

Napoleon & 5 French corp attacked Salzberg; breakin was successful & 1 Austrian M surrendered.

Massena, 1 French corp & the Holland corp attacked Bagration & 2 Russian corp in
Hamberg.

Chits were Probe vs Esc. CounterAttack.
Casulties were 5 Holland I vs 8 Russian I, 1 Russian M.
(City breakin was also succussful; casulties were 2 more Holland I vs 7 Russian M)

As part of the 1st battle of Hamberg; 1 brave Saxon I attacked Kutuzov & 2 Russian corp
in Keil to prevent him from reinforcing into the battle in Hamberg

Chits were Esc Assault vs Esc CounterAttack.
casulties were 1 Saxon I - no Russian losses were ever possible...

On the Russian land turn there was a 2nd battle of Hamberg.
Kutuzov, Bagration & 4 Russian corp (which should have 33I 2M since they
were the 4 corp that were shown in the previous 2 combats) vs Massena,
1 French corp and 1 Holland corp (20 French I, 2 French C, 2 Holland I, 2 Holland C)

Chits were ??? vs a SUCCESSFULE Withdrawl (attacker chit was either
Assault or Esc Assault because withdrawl was on the "normal" roll not with
a +1 or an automatic)

no combat details to report

In the interests of allowing more than one viewpoint to be presented, His Majesty King James III has graciously allowed the early dissemination of military action about to occur. If you will look at the enclosed map, you will see that a significant portion of His Majesty's Royal Navy is poised to unload large quantities of the best fighting men in the world right into the lap of the Usurper's territory. In an incidental note, it is clear that any of France's three remaining heavy Fleets could be put at risk.

The PM believes nothing can be done to prevent this action, and so also extends his benificence to allowing onlookers some thoughts on the upcoming struggle(s):

First, it is obvious that there are three primary targets available to the British regulars: Brest, La Rochelle, and the prize, Lorient. Brest and La Rochelle each contain a single heavy fleet containing 6 ships, and Lorient contains the last heavy fleet, including 15 ships of the line. La Rochelle also contains the French Transport Fleet with all 20 of her merchant ships. Despite their poorly-trained crews and misguided loyalties, these are obviously excellent practice ranges for the British Army.

But, there are a series of questions arising out of this. The PM was overheard musing about these possibilities with Lord Nelson prior to battle. Both now agree that discusion cannot compromise the integrity of the war effort, so these issues are posed here, mainly as food-for-thought.

First, take note that the cowardly Frenchies have retreated inland. This is, presumably, so that they can strike back in May at whatever positions the British army decides to attempt taking in April. Clearly, the French have the ability to strike at any or all of the ports (the three corps between Lorient and Orleans were each in the three respective ports before they turned tail and ran away). With Davout and Massena both busy in their unjust war against the peaceful Austrians, along with the Usurper himself, this leaves their best available leader as Soult. Soult is a seasoned commander, but, of course, no match for the Duke of Wellington!

There are really three options available to the British right now:

1) Attack all three ports with enough force to guarantee a victory in the siege combat, should they successfully breach the walls. Since all three ports have only a single factor guarding them, this would seem to be a very tasty possibility indeed. Two of the cities have fletches, and so present a 50/50 chance of breaking in to them (due to the lack of troop strength). The third (Lorient) has no fortifications to speak of, and thus offers a 2/3 chance of breaking in.

2) Attack the two northern cities. The intention here would be to either win and spank the French back to their vineyards, or, on the extremely unlikely chance they lose, they would retreat along the coast, towards Lille and eventually go back to London via the Channel.

3) Attack one city in force. The intent here would be twofold: Preserve the army to fight yet again on French soil, and leave two naval targets that essentially force France to continue committing corps and troops far away from the other enemies of the Usurper's regime. The PM is actively considering this possibility, as the British army was left to languish under the previous government, and is not considered an army that can continue fighting against the hordes of French rabble Bonaparte is certain to send against them. So, even landing them was an all-volunteer mission, holding out no hope of ever returning home. But, these heroic soldiers are all willing to pay whatever price must be paid in order to end the tyrannical reign in Paris.

You, like the PM, may now muse over these thoughts. Actual battle results should become available within a few days.

It is not known what came over the commander of His Majesty's troop transport fleet. She loaded up her troops as commanded, but then mysteriously seems to have forgotten to set sail. The admiral in charge has been summoned to London, and the matter WILL be thoroughly investigated.

It is not know which corps she picked up. However, it IS known that there were six corps present in Portsmouth prior to movement. Additionally, it is known that the III, V, and Swedish (on loan from the King of Sweden, and is training under Lord Nelson's personal tutelage) heavy fleets DID set sail. Their strengths at the beginning of April were known to be 20h, 9h, 10h, respectively. It is also known that a small, swift fleet of four frigates also set sail, and even this fleet was carrying a corp.

Finally, it is known that one of the corps present in Portsmouth at the beginning of April was the Swedish I corps showing their loyalty to their good friends in London. It is NOT known, however, what the strength of this unit was. However, just a few weeks back, it released 4000 men into the garrison of Portsmouth. It can be speculated that the corps itself would not have wanted to weaken itself, and is therefore full (or, possibly missing its vaunted cavalry battalions). It IS known, however, that the Swedish I corps set sail with the III British heavy fleet, which contained 20 ships of the line. Furthermore, another British corps joined their Swedish colleagues on that fleet.

[font=arial]Well, I finished off land. I also finished off all of the French heavy fleets.[/font]
[font=arial] [/font]
[font=arial]I wasn’t going to do it this way. I had decided on putting my whole force into one place, and fight on French soil for a few turns. However, do you recall when I did my naval move that I complained that the game had left my transport fleet in Portsmouth?[/font]
[font=arial] [/font]
[font=arial]Well, it just so happens Wellington was with that corps. So, I didn’t have an army; I had a collection of individual corps. I figured, why bother piling them up without a leader? So, I spread them out (to all three ports). [/font]
[font=arial] [/font]
[font=arial]They all made their break-in rolls.[/font]
[font=arial] [/font]
[font=arial]For reference, Brest has two corps with 9 and 1 factors in them. La Rochelle has one corps with 10 factors. And, Lorient has a Swedish corps (full) and a British corps (6 factors). No casualties occurred in the British forces. Three French infantry (I think they were infantry – I didn’t really check that) were killed, one in each port.[/font]
[font=arial] [/font]
[font=arial]So, the mighty British army is reduced to three piles of factors (more or less), while the not-so-mighty French navy has been reduced to firewood for the aforementioned factors. [/font]

Austria, seizing on its temporary superiority in factors, gives chase to Napoleon's "strategic redeployment" to the Austrian frontier.  Besieging/occupying Bavarian cities disrupts French depot supply for operations in Austria next turn.  Further, positioning the Venetian corp in E Switzerland prevents a link-up of Napoleon with his North Italy army in Bavaria, assuring Austria factor superiority for one more turn.  In May Napoleon is faced with the choice of a further retreat in order to combine his forces OR enjoin battle with a numerically superior foe.  Further retreat should enrusre that the Austrian captial is securely in friendly hands the next economic turn. 
 

First time uploading an image, so hope it works . . .

I'm not sure how much effect it had, because corps counters could be empty. But, there seems to be about six French corps in striking distance of either France's northern or western coast.

Apparently, the small British army has once again proved its capability in the best possible way: Its enemy noticed it and reacted.

Most of the British army left France this month, taking advantage of a game quirk whereby blockading fleets end up in the port once the evacuation combat has occured. There was nearly enough transport capacity to remove the stalwart British soldiers from the swamps and cesspools the Usurper calls his own. Left behind were 4 swedish infantry factors in garrison in Lorient, plus a corps and 5 British factors holding down the fortress of La Rochelle.

A small French force with Soult leading it attacked these valiant soldiers in the city they had captured. France had 7 infantry and 3 militia (rabble) factors, while GB had 10 of the finest soldiers in the world guarding this formerly French port city (5 were in the corps).

The British fought valiantly (of course), losing four factors from the garrison. French losses were, unfortunately, smaller: 2 infantry and 1 rabble factor. At the end of combat, GB had 5I in a corps and one in the city. France had 5I and 2M in his corps (specific corps division numbers were not reported, mainly due to the heavy fighting -- it took all day for the besieged to drive off the French rabble).

The other two corps seem afraid of the massive army that could drop on French soil from the English Channel: Three of the four fleets carrying factors went to the Channel. The French positioned themselves between Lille and Paris, apparently trying to stall any British landing, and keep it from reaching Paris in June. The British High Command is currently evaluating whether to land on French or British soil.

The one remaining fleet carrying factors this month (a fleet of frigates 10 strong) moved from Portsmouth to area18, the sea zone that borders Brest and La Rochelle (due to the British birthright to rule the waves, this action was uncontested). It is unknown also where Command is planning on landing. The only real military target is the small French corps besieging La Rochelle.

However, in a strange turn of events, a British fleet of frigates (10 strong) has landed in the port of Lorient. It is possible that the British intend to land there, but, if so, our analysts are unable to determine why they would do this. Could the Royal Army be planning some kind of ruse, feint, or real threat, utilizing the Swedes valiantly defending Lorient? Or, are their plans in place to mount a two-pronged attack on both the Northern and Western coasts of France? Only time will tell.

This breaking news from our analysts in Lorient:
 
Landing the British corps here in Lorient does not seem profitable for His Majesty's army. Due to a bug in the game, the Swedes cannot build their corps counter here. It was thought that this could be a reason for landing in Lorient: To pick up the Swedish factors and allow them to fight elsewhere.
 
Due to the inability to get a corps flag into Lorient, this reduces drastically the odds of a landing in Lorient. It would only be able to operate as a base of operations, but for what? The British corps is being carried by 10 frigates, so it has a maximum strength of 5 factors. What is Command thinking of? Could they really have predicted the small retaliation by the French, and have prepared for it in advance?
 
The news blackout is very tight here. However, our sources have determined that some of the local commanders here in Lorient believe that Command anticipated a small strike back from the French at La Rochelle, and therefore intend to land in La Rochelle. But, they also maintained a contingency plan of landing in Lorient, should the French have attacked in force. This would explain both the heavy fleet in La Rochelle (20 ships of the line) AND the small fleet of frigates mentioned earlier that landed in Lorient. Command could go either direction, depending on where the Usurper committed his forces.
 
Still, we stress that that information is strictly conjecture at this point. Nobody outside of Command really knows what the intent of those valiant soldiers is.

2 French corp w/Davout attack 1 (Austrian controlled) Venice corp (no leader)
(Note: Area427 = The 4-zone in Switzerland just north of Milan)

Chits were Esc. Assault vs Defend.
Casulties - 1 Venitian I

4 French corp w/Nappy attack 1 Austrian corp (no leader) in Munich

Chits were Esc. Assault vs Cordon.
Casulties 1 Austrian I

May 1806 Austria turn

Well, folks, the news is in now: The lone corps off the west coast of France dropped into Lorient. This port was controlled by the British with the Swedish factors holding down the port. There also is a fleet of frigates there that is the same size as the one that dropped them, so they can immediately move.
 
The corps in La Rochelle, plus the five factors, had to fight off the French. They won the battle, but lost 4 factors in the process. So, it appears that the British intend to move the corps out by sea (with the heavy fleet present in the port), and leave the factor behind, forcing the French to continue blockading it.
 
The British also must have been dissuaded by the French land movement, as no other corps crossed into French territory. However, the British Cav corps moved SE from London to just across the English Channel from Lille. They were joined by a corps that was dropped from a fleet. Plans must have been worked on hard, because they did not have to pay supply for EITHER of these corps. The same thing happened in Portsmouth: One of the corps that dropped foraged before the rest ended their movement, thus saving precious pounds.
 
The British seem poised to move by sea or by land. Analysts believe that this leaves our team open to attack, should the Usurper's forces decide to move last, or to land by sea if they decide to continue going first.

Well; in further news :

4 Swedish I in Lorient surrendered to 1 rather strange
young French militia...man (probably) whom was almost in tears crying "Leave Brittany Alone" and other rather insane rants.


1 British I in La Rochelle was killed by a French corp (13I,1M,1C) during
a seige breakin.

Nappy & 6 corp attacked 1 Austrian corp & 1 Austrian depot garrison in Linz
Chits were Esc. Assault vs Defend.
Casulties : 1 Austrian I, 1 Austrian M; 0 French

And finally 1 brave Barvarian makes a suicidal charge againt Charles & 10 corp in Salzberg
Chits were Esc. Assault vs Esc. Counter Attack
Casulties : 1 Bavarian I; 0 Austrian